NC 17: Not Accepting Applications

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#17 of November Challenge Stories

If Drac was a superhero, he'd have some interesting situations to deal with, but this seemed like one that would drive him absolutely crazy.

November challenge for myself.

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Not Accepting Applications

November 17th Prompt: Drac as Superhero Putting His Foot Down

"No, I do not need a sidekick!"

Draconicon tried to shut the door, but the damn overeager husky slid in anyway. The black-scaled, white-eyed dragon rolled his eyes as the super-fan charged into the living room of his house - not even a hide-out, his house - and started pulling on every book, every painting, every vaguely sticky-outy, button-like thing that could be found. He shut the door slowly, carefully pulling his wings in a little tighter to his back.

"There's no secret button. There's no hide-out. Can you just leave?" he called down the hall.

"But you're the Scentinal!" the husky shouted back. "Breaker of minds and -"

"The press has a lot to answer for..."

Shaking his head, he turned from the front door and marched down the hall. He was already tabulating the various damages that he'd need to pay for, and whether he had time to get the husky out. As it stood, probably not; he'd been expecting a lazy day, and the house hadn't been aired out since last night.

He walked around the intersection of bedroom, living room, and bathroom, and to no surprise, he found the husky staring down at the laundry hamper. Probably pulled the damn thing open hoping for a secret tunnel to an underground base. Now? Well, now he was staring into it, half-drooling, eyes glassy and mouth ajar.

"Wonderful. Lovely. One more super-fan that won't hear that I'm on sabbatical."

Shaking his head, he pulled the husky out of the bathroom, dragging him back to the living room. All the while, he muttered to himself.

"No, no, ignore the whole thing that I can call the wind, or that I have magic rivaling that annoying little Sorcerer Supreme. No, no, that's not important. A dragon that can control the weather? A hero that can raise the darkness from the world below and create a pocket dimension? Nah, nah, let's just focus on the pheromones that he has and call him fucking 'Scentinal.'"

Admittedly, his pheromones were powerful, and they had done a number of good things for him. Every meeting for the yearly budget for his super-activities had gone in his favor, even with precautions, and even fights that went bad usually ended up more or less okay by the end of it when the villain in question got close.

But he was more than his pheromones, damn it.

Laying the husky on the living room couch, Draconicon was just about to start giving the usual orders that would send the husky back down to the hospital for treatment when someone else knocked on the door. He gritted his teeth, glaring over his shoulder toward the front of the house.

"That'll be another one. You know what? You know what? Fuck it. You. Name?"

"Randall, sir," the husky muttered.

"Randall. Answer the door. Kiss whoever's there. Soon as they're out, tell them the following: 'You are the doorman to the Scentinal's house. Nobody enters without the Scentinal's permission.' Understood?"

"Yes, master."

"And don't call me master. Or Scentinel. Just call me 'Drac.'"

"Yes, Drac."

The husky got up as robotically as one could ever imagine, making his way toward the front door. There was a brief moment of chatter before it was interrupted by a wet-sounding kiss, and Draconicon smiled slightly as he heard the same command he'd given be repeated. He shook his head with some small satisfaction and walked back to the kitchen.

That should keep them from making too much trouble, he thought. And I can just have a day off.

After all, that was the whole point of this. Take some time off, re-evaluate his life, decide whether he wanted to take some time to focus on himself for a while -

CRASH!

He looked up at the window over the sink, seeing a fox staring in.

"Oh, you're the Scentinel! Finally! Are you looking for a side-kick, because I think I'm perfect for -"

Whoosh.

The fox's eyes went blank as soon as the dragon flapped his wings. The pheromones always coming from his scales affected the fox and brought him down into the same trance state as the other two at the front door, and Draconicon shook his head as he sipped from the mug he'd just poured for himself.

"I'm starting to think that they like this..."

Sighing, he set the fox up as a watchman at the window. One way or another, he was going to find a way to stop people from asking to be his sidekick. He didn't take sidekicks, didn't want one, didn't need one, and frankly, they would get in his way.

A maid, or a butler, though? That'd be nice. But nobody wanted the domestic stuff.

Shaking his head, he pulled his bathrobe on a little tighter and walked back to the living room. Hopefully he'd have a couple more hours before the next one showed up. Maybe they'd even be caught before finding another place to break in. Damages were already mounting up from the last two.

Draconicon sat on the couch, put his feet up, and -

"Oh not another one."

He flapped his wings towards the open window, blowing more of the pheromones off his body and through the gap. The orca slumped back, eyes glazed over.

"Just patrol around the house and keep anyone from getting close." Draconicon shook his head, sipping his coffee as the orca started walking around to do just that. "All I want is a day off. Is that too much to ask?"

Shaking his head, he turned on the news. Three watchmen and a patrol. That should be enough. If it wasn't, he was going to move into the goddamn Dragon's Den full time, he swore.

Please be enough. I don't want to have to live there all the time.